Good Afternoon Forums!

We wanted to expand on the changes to the On-Time Delivery Rate (OTDR) policy that were previously communicated. Effective September 25, 2024, sellers are required to maintain a minimum of 90% OTDR without promise extensions on seller-fulfilled products listed on Amazon.com. An OTDR below 90% can result in restriction of your ability to have seller-fulfilled products listed.

The OTDR report will calculate based on the tracked seller-fulfilled units that were delivered on or before the seller-promised ‘Deliver-by’ date. The corresponding report will look at a time window of 14-days which will reflect a 7-day delay to account for any orders that are still being delivered. The promised ‘Deliver by’ date is calculated utilizing the set handling and transit time, prior to the addition of any promise extension.

We have designed tools to help set accurate delivery dates, reduce late deliveries, and to meet or exceed the minimum OTDR requirement. As Amazon is making calculations on your behalf that affect OTDR, you’ll get OTDR protection from late deliveries on units shipped through standard shipping if you use all 3 tools as follows:

• Shipping Settings Automation (SSA), you must choose one of the preferred ship methods in the SSA templates, which will mark the transit time on the shipping template as "Managed by Amazon".
• Automated handling time (AHT), you must ensure that automated handling time is enabled in your shipping settings.
• Amazon Buy Shipping, you can use Amazon Buy Shipping to purchase “OTDR Protected” labels through Manage Orders, Shipping API, Veeqo, or select multi-channel integrators with access to Amazon Buy Shipping. You must choose shipping labels marked as “OTDR Protected” when purchasing labels.

Note: OTDR Protection is only available for units shipped through Standard Shipping, units shipped through other shipping options such as Free Economy, Standard Prime, or Premium Shipping, are not eligible for OTDR protection.

FAQs

How do I verify the tools are enabled?

You can verify that you have enabled all of the automation tools on Seller Central by checking the following:

• Automated handling time: Go to the "Handling Time" section on your Seller Central settings page and check if the automated handling time toggle is enabled.
• Shipping Settings Automation (SSA): Go to the "Shipping Templates" tab on your Seller Central settings page, and check that under the Standard shipping section the transit time says "Managed by Amazon".
• Buy Shipping: Go to the "Manage Orders" page and click "Buy shipping," which will take you to Amazon Buy Shipping where you can purchase labels for ship methods that are marked as "OTDR Protected".

Please be aware that protection is only applicable to Professional sellers shipping from the US, as all of the required tools are currently not available on Individual selling plans or to Professional sellers that are shipping from outside of the US.

Which time should I refer to on the report when reviewing the metric?

When verifying if your order was delivered within the required window, be sure to check that the ‘Actual Delivery Date’ has occurred prior to the ‘Promised delivery date without a promise extension’. The order must be delivered prior to this listed date and time, otherwise it will not be considered OTDR compliant. You can verify the "Deliver by" date on the order confirmation page.

Please note that the time for the ‘Deliver by’ date will be measured in Pacific Time (PST/PDT). For example, if your product had a set deliver by date of Jan 1, 11:59:59 p.m., all items in the order must be delivered prior or on this specific date and time to be considered compliant.

What if the package is delivered after the ‘Deliver by’ date seen in seller central, but before the date seen by the customer?

If your shipment arrives after the promised delivery date, it will count as a late delivery and will affect your on-time delivery rate, unless you have automated handling time enabled on your account, the shipped item is assigned to a Shipping Template with Shipping Settings Automation enabled, and you shipped using an "OTDR Protected" label from Amazon Buy Shipping.

How long after the metric is below the target will I receive communication regarding my seller-fulfilled listings?

We will email you if your OTDR is below 90% and will start by addressing sellers with the lowest OTDR performance. The first email notification will be a formal warning that your seller-fulfilled listing functionality is now at risk due to the low OTDR. If your OTDR is not improved over the following 30 days, your seller-fulfilled listings will be deactivated.

If this happens, you will receive a notification outlining the steps to submit an appeal to request reinstatement of your seller-fulfilled capabilities or to submit an explanation if you believe there has been an error.

Professional sellers who ship domestically within the US will be required to utilize the fulfillment and shipping tools listed above for 180 days to ensure they meet the 90% target. Once the 180 days has passed, you will have the option to not use the tools.

Will I get penalized for a late delivery caused by disruptive events out of my control such as weather?

If there is a major disruption event that impacts all sellers shipping to a specific region, Amazon will not count deliveries that are late as a result in your OTDR. Whether a disruption is considered to be major is a discretionary decision made by Amazon.

What if I am an international seller facing issues such as customs clearance?

The requirement is the same for all sellers; however, as an international seller, you have the ability to set longer Transit Times to account for the overseas delivery aspects.

What if I am a low-volume or seasonal seller?

We will measure your On-time delivery (OTDR), but the requirements will not apply if you ship less than 20 orders across all of your products in the 14-day period being measured.

For seasonal sellers, we will recommend enabling AHT because it will use your recent Handling Time history to adjust to your handling capabilities during the off-peak seasons. AHT will set your Order Handling Capacity for you based on your fulfillment history. Your Order Handling Capacity is the limit for how many orders you can process in a day, and once this limit is reached you will receive an extra day of Handling Time to process that order.

What should I do if I have questions?

Ask questions about the OTDR policy updates at an Ask Amazon event on October 1st

If there is still information or details you are looking to understand, we encourage you to check out our live event regarding OTDR policy updates taking place on October 1st where you can share your questions in real time.